Monday, December 15, 2014

10 Days til Christmas

Hello Everyone!!!
Is everyone else freaking out that Christmas is only 10 days away?? Time flies when you are serving the Lord. I can't believe really that soon it will be 2015, which will be my mission year (or the full year that I will be out on a mission). I apologize in advance that you haven't gotten my Christmas presents yet... I might not have sent them yet. I will make sure that they get out this week though.
So this week has actually been one of the most miraculous weeks that I have had probably in my life. I feel like every day I am progressing to new understandings of my Savior, and that I am learning so much about myself and my capabilities as a missionary. Although I still have days when I am not quite sure, I have learned to combat my doubts, put them a side, and rely on the evidence that I have that the Lord loves me and is looking out for me day by day. I am really enjoying being with Sister Gardner. I feel like we challenge each other day by day, and she really pushes me to be completely obedient. I find it quite easy to be myself, whoever that is anymore, around her.
We have had some pretty crazy experiences together as a companionship so far, and I am not really sure where to start. I guess I will start with the fact that we now know that we have siblings that work together.... that's pretty weird. We actually figured that out, but we were waiting for confirmation. Her sister also knows Chris Pearson because she currently works at Peoria, but will be moving to Liberty next semester. 
This week we were able to reach our goals of Walk-N-Talks and Book of Mormon copies!!! Actually we not only reached them but surpassed them, which is AMAZING!! A total of 213 walk-n-talks, and 16 copies of the Book of Mormon!!!! Of course Wednesdays, downtown helped but we are quite happy that we were able to accomplish those goals.
     Anyway, on the investigator front we have had some ups and downs this week. I feel like Evergreen has so much potential that I sometime get overwhelmed and tired just thinking about it. I guess one thing at a time on that. Our Investigator Doug has given us a sort of up and down this week. We were going to meet him on Tuesday, but he called like 3 hours before our lesson and told us that he wanted to wait until the new year to meet again because he just wasn't sure. I got really inspired and when he called back I talked to him for like 15 minutes about the Lord and his love for him and the reason that we read the Book of Mormon. As my zone leader Elder Martin would say "Chalk one up for the Spirit". He agreed to meet with us on Thursday at the 24th St. Chapel, and that brought us to a new problem of who we would get to come to our lesson. Doug actually doesn't live in our ward boundaries, but we have permission to teach him... however we want him to be able to get to know the people from his ward. We called the Woodbine Elders for some help (this being after I had prayed all morning to be able to find someone that would be perfect for Doug), and they gave us a list of people that would be available. Long story short, we ended up having an amazing lesson with Doug and his new fellow-shipper Sister Wallace who ended up being the most perfect person for him. By the end of the lesson, he told us that he felt like he needed to make a commitment to the Lord!!!!! Everyone stop what you are doing and got reach Mosiah 5: 4-5!!!! Okay sorry, I am back on track now. Unfortunately when we called him later in the week to ask if he was going to church he gave us the news that his wife isn't really happy with him, and that she wants him to go to her church before he makes the decision. We are praying for and hoping that things will work out in his behalf.
Janet, another one of our investigators, has quit smoking!!!!!!! We are so excited for her and hope that she will have the strength to keep going and to bring her boys into the gospel. I don't want to bore you all with my mission stories... however we had another really cool experience where we went to go see a potential and she wasn't home, so I felt like we needed to go and see if anyone lived in Oman and Atoye's old place. When we rang the doorbell, a girl named Salwa answered, and she told us that she had received a Book of Mormon a week previous from a friend in High River!!!! It sounds like the beginning of one of those really inspiring stories told in sacrament meeting. We are excited to teach her and to bring her into the light and the love of God.
Another cool thing that has happened on my mission is that I feel like I have learned more skills out here then I have back at home. This week I went on exchanges with Sister Hassan to the YSA ward, and although we didn't have any lessons, two things happened... I learned how to Crochet (from a relief society activity), and I listened to an amazing talk called "Sleeping Through Gethsemane".
Over all I am really excited for this transfer with Sister Gardner. I have already learned a lot, and progressing forward, and am becoming more and more comfortable with being a missionary. Thank you all for your support and love. I can't wait to hear all about your Christmas experiences and the work that the Lord has done in your life!! I love you always and forever. Have a wonderful week!!

Love,
Sister Kelliann Jensen

Hi Mom!!!
I can't believe that you go the flu!!! That is awful and I think that you deserve to be able to throw up in dad’s car. I remember that one time I was really sick when we went to go see the Flutes and Temple lights... I miss them and hope that you have a wonderful time. I think that with the Skype call we will be doing it at Sister Peters house... what time would you like me to be on the computer. I need to see if I can remember my Skype so that you can call me, but I will send it to you next week or have Sister Peters send it to you. I did get your second package and you Dear Elder package!! It turns out that President does a fireside in December and it is during that time that we get our packages... and we got to watch Meet the Mormons. There is a part in it where they are talking to a missionary mom and it shows him going off on his mission. I cried. I love you so much and can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks. Feel better, tell Grandma that I am sending off her card soon, and hug O'Malley for me. Also, do you think that you could send me those CTR rings that Marianne gave me before I left and maybe the Watch as well??? We have a lot of kids that I think would love them. I love you lots.

Kelliann




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